The purpose of this blog is to document my adventures in homebrewing, mainly so I can learn from my mistakes. I'm posting it online so others can learn from my mistakes too. (I make a lot of them). Now with comments on articles about beer and home brewing and the occasional beer review, as well as all of my home brew recipes.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Señor Brew™ has put together a Christmas wish list of things he wants to implement in the Noble Square Brewery this coming year. He doesn't expect Santa's little helpers pictured above (or anybody else for that matter) to actually gift these things, they'll be stuff that he buys or builds himself:

New 20 gallon brew pot--since he is brewing less often, brewing a larger quantity at one time is ideal. Upping the kettle to 20 gallons will allow him to do full 15 gallon batches without worry of boilover. Señor Brew™ can then convert the current 15 gallon kettle to the HLT, and convert the 15.5 gallon keggle that is currently the HLT to a mash tun.

That means he needs to build a 3 tiered stand to safely hold these larger components, or a 2 tiered stand and pump. A stand is already necessary, we have to figure out how to incorporate the new natural gas burner that is up and running. With a pump, we'll also be able to use a Therminator style plate chiller, so we'll add that as well. (This is a WISH list after all--Señor Brew™ will be happy if we get a third of these upgrades implemented this year.)

How about some easily implemented improvements that we should have already had for a long time now? Like bubble wrap insulation for the HLT (instead of covering it with the grill cover, like we currently do). If we convert the keggle to a mash tun, we'll need a false bottom for it. There's an old one lying around the Noble Square Brewery somewhere--it was used in the old days when we mashed in a 5 gallon igloo cooler.

I'm sure there are other upgrades Señor Brew™ would like to implement, but that's a pretty good wish list for right now. We don't want Santa to think he's greedy and put him on the naughty list. Although speaking of naughty, he wouldn't mind if Santa's helpers stopped by Christmas eve for some Christmas brew and cookies.